Full disclosure, I worship Dame Judi Dench. Can’t remember a movie she’s been in that I haven’t loved.

But I didn’t choose this movie for my first YouTube review because of the Dame. I chose it because it’s an unequivocal example of how to practice active acceptance.

Active Acceptance: a willingness to stand up for another whether you agree with, or understand, their beliefs/choices or not.

That being said, defending those who are persecuted due to race, beliefs, sexuality etc. isn’t easy for those of us who don’t rule our own countries. (Though Victoria faced all kinds of opposition and threats while standing up for Abdul. You can read more about it in my review.)

In recent weeks, people in Hollywood have found the courage to stand up for themselves and others as whistle blowers. Not easy to do when your paycheck/career is on the line.

I guess what each of us has to ask ourselves when faced with an unfair and potentially harmful situation is what are we willing to endure to defend another’s right to be who they are…whether we agree with their beliefs/choices or not.

I’ve never had to risk my livelihood to stand up for another, so I hope, but don’t know if I’d have the courage to do that. But I have continued to hone my active acceptance skills in daily life, especially with my husband.

My aim is that we model and teach the practice of active acceptance to our kids so they won’t have to face as much prejudice, judgment, and even harm due to their choices. That we can raise a generation that when faced with ‘the other,’ will use their initial fear as a trigger to activate their curiosity and acceptance towards that person, and courage if necessary.

Check out my review and let me know what you think by replying to this letter, or posting your reactions in the comments section of my YouTube page.

And if you go see the movie, please post your own reviews and thoughts about the film on my YouTube page comments section too.

Please spread the word about my project/channel and encourage others to subscribe to my newsletter/YouTube Channel if you think they would speak to them.

Feel free to suggest other neat ways I can expose folks to Active Acceptance. You can send me video ideas, and whatever else you can think of by replying to this letter, or tweeting me, or posting a comment on my YouTube channel. I can use all the help I can get. #AcceptanceIsAChoice

Purple Passion of the Fortnight:My Queen Katherine of Aragon (the only wife of Henry the VIII to keep her head) purple wedding dress.

I don’t write PBs, so I don’t read them often, but AFTER THE FALL by Dan Santat caught my attention right away.

But it wasn’t the book itself that first grabbed me, it was the story behind it. Long story short, Dan’s wife has struggled with anxiety for years. After many attempts, she’s finally found her formula for creating a peaceful and meaningful life.

While watching her journey, Dan realized the courage it took to dance with terror and rise above it, so he decided to write a book about it. He chose to look at what happened to Humpty Dumpty after he fell. Could he get back up on his wall?

It’s a powerful tribute to all of us who manage brain illnesses, and a great example of Active Acceptance. That’s because Dan shows us that the first step to wellness is actively accepting our own fear. Not trying to hide it, or deny it, or beat ourselves up about it, but just sitting with it and maybe even making adjustments for it at first.

Please spread the word about my project/channel and encourage others to subscribe to this newsletter and/or my YouTube Channel if you think they would speak to them. (If you haven’t already subscribed to my YouTube Channel, I hope you will too.)

Feel free to suggest neat ways I can expose folks to Active Acceptance. You can send me video ideas, and whatever else you can think of by replying to this letter, or tweeting me, or posting a comment on my YouTube channel. I can use all the help I can get. #AcceptanceIsAChoice

In my quest to find the main ‘gateway’ to my audience, I’ve decided to double down on YouTube and see what happens. I picked YT because it’s the only platform I know that spans all ages from 8-60 or so. My goal is to create an engaged community made up of my potential readers and connectors.

Kid lit authors are in a unique position because they often can’t interact directly with their readers. (Unfortunately in this day and age an adult author reaching out to a kid on social media is considered creepy no matter what the intention.) Also my young readers can’t buy the books themselves. So I have to reach the connectors first…i.e. educators who can recommend my books, parents who buy the books, and booksellers who sell them. (Of course I hope the adults will enjoy reading my books too, but you can’t plan to have a ‘crossover’ book.)

The downside of YouTube for me, and many others, is that it’s arguably the hardest platform to participate in. Besides the equipment you need to film the vids, the software you need to edit them, and the months/years it takes to become decent at editing, YT can trigger a whole host of insecurities.

For me it’s my round face, the potential glare in my glasses, what should I wear each time, can I keep your attention, what kind of comments will I get, will I get any comments at all.

Emily Graslie, a YouTube champ, who also happens to be the Chief Curiosity Correspondent for the Field Museum in chitown sums this up eloquently in her video entitled: Where My Ladies At?

So why do it? Besides what I said above, to me video it the most intimate and engaging way to reach you, my community. Plus, I’m drawn to try it despite my fears.

In the coming weeks I’m going to be posting my first interviews for my Active Acceptance Project. (More about that later.) I hope you’ll tune in and let me know what you think!

Please spread the word about my project/channel, feel free to suggest other neat ways to expose folks to Active Acceptance, send video ideas, and whatever else you can think of to me by posting a comment below, or tweeting me or posting a comment on my YouTube channel. I can use all the help I can get.

I was lucky enough to be asked to speak on a panel at C2E2, Chicago’s Comic Con, about how to use books to spark activism in our kids, our friends, our community, and ourselves.

‘Twas my first time speaking on a panel as a writer. Nervous I was, especially because the moderator declined to give us any talking points or questions in advance, so we had to wing it. Definitely one of those trial by fire experiences.

It had a happy ending. We had a full house, which is rare for the educational panels at the con, and to my utter surprise one of my comments garnered applause. A short clip of my answer is up on my YouTube channel.

This was the applause getting comment to the above question: Books provide insight into ‘another.’ They let us travel the world so that we can see into others’ hearts—feel their struggles, their joys. They expose us to their beliefs. Through more understanding, we can practice what I call the platinum rule. Help others the way THEY want to be helped, not the way YOU want to be helped. (Throwing money at certain African nations, instead of empowering them on the ground comes to mind as an example.)

I first learned the inaccuracy of the press when I went to China as a kid, before it was westernized at all. It was a traditional Communist country, and therefore something to fear if you believed our government and their press. We were also something they were told to fear, the white devils of democracy.

We weren’t allowed to travel on our own, but instead were escorted by a Communist guide. Mrs. Yung was generous, kind, warm and took excellent care of us. We were mobbed like rock stars everywhere we went because most Chinese had never seen foreigners, let alone American kids. But it was curiosity, not fear, that met us as we traveled around the country. The language barrier prevented much conversation, but their gestures conveyed warmth and friendliness.

What that trip taught me, and hopefully those who met us, was that people are not their government. They are not the propaganda. We have so much more in common than the powers that be want us to believe.

I returned from that trip wishing I could give American students a scholarship to go to China to see for themselves what I’d seen. I was sure it would lead to more unity between our countries. (I felt the same way 3 years later when I went to the Russia.)

But since I can’t send everyone to China, Russia etc., books are the next best thing.

Here’s a short list of graphic novels that shed light on folks you may not know much about. (Because it was a comic con I focused on the graphic format.)

“One day, we might receive a signal from a planet like this,” Hawking says in the documentary, referring to a potentially habitable alien world known as Gliese 832c. “But we should be wary of answering back. Meeting an advanced civilization could be like Native Americans encountering Columbus. That didn’t turn out so well.” From: Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places, a new documentary streaming now on the CuriosityStream video service.

Why do we assume aliens are evil?

In some ways it’s hard wired into us. As cave people any unknown species or human could spell trouble. The first time a cave person saw a lion he/she probably became the lion’s dinner. So after a while, a lion was an automatic ‘uh oh, where’s the spear?” This likely happened over and over again every time a cave person encountered a new species, or humans outside of their own group. Thus to survive, we learned to fear unknown people, places and things. And that made sense back then. But it hurts us now. Lions and marauders no longer sneak up on most of us in our daily lives. There are those who live in war zones or pockets of cities where their survival is in danger almost daily, and sadly, their being on high alert is warranted. (Though for many I talk to who live in Israel for ex, they choose to exert limits on their fear. They avoid areas which may be dangerous, but don’t dwell on the possibility that a scud missile could crash into their house any day. Because fear sucks the joy, the life out of life. And if they’re choosing to live there, they may as well make peace with the situation.) But Fear wants to be expressed no matter what. After all it reasons, it has the most important job of all, keeping us alive. And that’s how it hurts us. Fear runs amok, making acceptance difficult if not impossible. It sees danger in every unknown face we encounter. It blocks us from getting to know each other, from seeing the joy, the peace, and the kindness that exists in most of us.

I prefer to view possible aliens like Neil deGrasse Tyson does.

“In our own civilization we know the consequences of a more advanced culture coming upon a less advanced culture. They get enslaved, they get disease-ridden, and they get put in camps or slaughtered. It disturbs me a bit as an astrophysicist to have we humans portray aliens based on how we know we would treat one another. Rather than on how they might otherwise treat us given our highest and noblest causes. I don’t fear sending out our return address to aliens. Maybe aliens are beyond us in every way, including their capacity to treat one another kindly.”

And I strive to transcend my fear so that my encounters with new humans are bathed in acceptance and kindness rather than fear. (Though I’m batting about 500 at this right now if I’m lucky. )

What tools/skills do you use to be accepting of people you don’t know, or ideas that are different from your own? ( I can always use more tools in my how to be more accepting toolkit!)

Katherine says that she was pulled from the ‘colored computer pool’ to work on flight research because she always asked a lot of questions, while the rest of the women just did as they were told.

But it was Katherine’s creative use of geometry that made the all white male division “[forget] to return me to the pool.”

In 1962 John Glenn was slated to become the first American to orbit the earth. Right before launch, Katherine’s supervisor discovered that the fancy new IBM computer had turned our conflicting return longitudes and latitudes. When he shared this info with Glenn, Glenn refused to go up until Katherine had verified which of the computer’s numbers for launch and landing were correct.

Once in orbit Glenn’s heat shield started to fail. Again Glenn and a panicked NASA supervisor turned to Katherine. She reassured them that her ‘return window’ numbers would get Glenn safely back to earth.

If Katherine’s geometry had been wrong, Glenn would’ve been incinerated upon re-entry. In addition, his death would’ve most likely given Congress the reason they needed to stop funding NASA.

Fortunately for Glenn, Katherine’s numbers were spot on as usual.

Once Glenn survived, NASA had its eye on the moon, but had no idea how to get there. Katherine was told that she’d have to invent math that didn’t exist yet in order to make it happen. She did just that.

Lest you think I’ve given the whole movie away, I haven’t. The story is powerful because it’s really about race, sexism, and the few folks on both sides that decided that they were going to move beyond their prejudices and make history.

So please read the book Hidden Figures, or go see the movie, or both. You’ll come out of it encouraged, empowered and ready to create something of your own. And who knows? Your creation just might be the thing that takes us to Mars, or saves an endangered species in the ocean, or adds beauty to the wall of a museum.Would love to know what you thought of the movie/book. Please let me know by replying to this letter, or post your comments on my Facebook page, or tweet me.

FYI: Please share this letter with others you think would enjoy it.

#CreativityEmpowers

Purple Passion of the Fortnight: Thank God Katherine is better at math than I am!

I was born wanting to inspire, provoke, and empower myself and others through the arts.

But my family saw a different future for me. They pushed me into politics, wanting me to be the first female President of the U.S. I tried that route for a while, but discovered quickly that I could help a lot more people through my music and writing than I could through policy and politics.

So I hopped on the artistic roller coaster and never looked back. Well, I do look back on occasion when I get a bad review or another rejection, but I never get off the ride.

Though politics didn’t agree with me, my family’s notion that one should support the causes they believe in every way they can, i.e. money or time or both, did resonate. I’ve been volunteering since I was 10 yrs old. In fact I think volunteering is one of my best skills.

Imagine my delight when days after I’d found my mantra I discovered the non-profit Harry Potter Alliance whose values include believing in magic and my personal favorite: Fantasy is not only an escape from our world, but an invitation to go deeper into it.

HPA’s mission is to turn fans into heroes by engaging them in fan activism. The idea is to harness the passion fans have for certain characters like Neville Longbottom, a shy awkward Harry Potter classmate who became a badass when his back was against a wall, and direct them to fight like Neville for causes such as net neutrality and the electoral college vote. The Neville campaign page gives sample scripts of what to say on the phone to congress humans, where to find phone numbers, and info on the cause etc.

Within a day or two of discovering HPA, I started The Patronuses. The Chicago community chapter of HPA.

FYI: A patronus is an silvery white animal spirit that holds a magical concentration of happiness and hope, which protects against the dementors, those that would suck the happiness and hope right out of you.

We are barely a few weeks old, but already have a mission statement:The Patronuses fuse the powers of imagination and fan activism together to support and/or create campaigns designed to bring positive change in areas such as diversity, acceptance and education.

I’m overjoyed to finally marry my two loves, imagination and activism, in such a direct way!

We are already discussing our first campaign, which will probably revolve around partnering with Comic Education Outreach to use comics and graphic novels to teach the skill of acceptance perhaps using Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, as our role model/fandom base. (Tho HPA grew out of Harry Potter fandom, any fandom is welcome. There are already campaigns using The Hunger Games, some Marvel Cinematic Characters, as well as Potter campaigns.)

As our journey unfolds I’ll continue to fill you in, hoping one or more of our campaigns strikes your fancy and you’ll join us. You can help as much as you want. The key is to have fun and be of service at the same time.

There is no limit to what we can do if we do it together.

To be kept in the loop, please email us at acceptopatronus@gmail.com so we can add you to our Patronuses list. Feel free to include a cause or two you would like to support and/or a character or two that you feel would be a good symbol/role model for a cause. You can also leave your suggestions by replying to this letter, or posting on my Facebook page, or tweet me.

The U.S. tennis association threatened to expel them from the sport, possibly ending their careers. (The two Australians that signed on were told their careers were over.) What inspired them to put their dream careers on the line? EQUALITY.

At the time male tennis players could make a living playing professional tennis, but women couldn’t because they were paid significantly less prize money than the men, and not being offered endorsement deals. Part of the reason for this inequality was the prevailing belief that playing sports was unladylike, and therefore girls weren’t supposed to pursue sports as a career.

Because they had the courage of their convictions, our girls not only play sports and get paid for it, but are encouraged to do so.

But one Original 9 didn’t stop at tennis. Billie Jean King founded Women’s Sports Magazine and Women’s Sports Foundation to champion all female athletes in their quest to be recognized and paid for their achievements.

Billie Jean’s extra efforts, combined with her historic win against Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes, made her the poster girl for the gender equality movement. So much so, that Life magazine named her one of the 100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century. She was the only female athlete on the list, and one of only four athletes total. (Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali were the others).

Her notoriety netted her endorsements, which paid her lots of money for the time, but the other 8 of the Original 9 didn’t receive the same attention or financial reward.

Billie Jean wants to correct that. In a recent piece she wrote for the NY Times she points out that successful tennis players like Serena Williams stand not only on her shoulders, but on the 8 other pairs of shoulders as well.

She points out that until others raised their voices with her, change didn’t happen. That we girls can move mountains, but only when we come together–risk together, help each other.

Too often we girls turn on each other, be it bullying about our appearances, working moms vs stay-at-home moms, or female bosses being threatened by up and coming underlings. We forget that we’re stronger as a group, not at each others’ throats. After all, succeeding together is in our DNA. A lion could take out one or two of us when we were home in the cave defending our children, but it lost when we all banded together to defeat it.

Never give up, Never surrender, and always have each others’ backs. That’s how we can Empower Girls Of All Ages!

Are you part of a group that’s changed the world around you in some way? Tell me about it either in reply to this letter, or post it on my author FB page.

Imagine that you’ve decided to become a doctor. You’re good in school and work hard, but your parents tell you it’ll never happen because they can’t afford the education you need. One day a strange man shows up and tells your parents that he’ll make you a doctor. All you have to do is work for a few hours after school on his boat. You’re terrified to leave your family, but they tell you it’s for your own good. And you really want to be a doctor! You wake up your first morning with the man scared, but also excited about your future. Instead of taking you to school, the man puts you on his boat. Day after day, you do back breaking work in the sun, wondering when school will start. It never does. The man lied to your parents. He bought you for cheap so you could be his slave. Oh, and you’re only eight years old.

This is not the beginning of my latest novel, but rather a daily occurrence in Ghana. Surprised? So was my friend Lori Dillon when an Oprah show profiled the Right To Be Free Organization (RTBF) that both rescues these kids, and prevents more kids from becoming enslaved.

In response, Lori founded the U.S. branch of Right To Be Free, and started to encounter a struggle of her own. Namely, how do you get the rest of us to care enough to donate to your cause? Especially when there are so many causes that hit closer to home?

For Lori it meant figuring out a way to get the rest of us to walk a mile in a young Ghanian slave’s feet. (Many of them don’t have shoes.) To do this, she had to get creative. First off believing that she had to use “imagery to convey truth,” Lori, along with her fifteen year old daughter, went to Ghana to film a rescue mission. The film tugs at heartstrings to be sure, but sometimes that isn’t enough to stir action.

Sometimes you need to take a cue from branding land and come up with a clever and catchy campaign. Thus the 5 For Freedom Campaign was born. Give $5, tell 5 friends, which these days takes 5 seconds, and that’s it.

But it’s not really it. Because Lori knows that she has to keep coming up with new, and even more creative ways to keep our hearts and wallets open.

Which leads me to my big question…how have you used your imagination to further a cause you believe in?

And if you’ve any innovative ideas of your own that can help Lori further Right To Be Free, please respond to this email or post them on my Facebook page!

Then sit back and imagine the smile on the face of the next child RTBF saves!

Purple Passion of the Fortnight: Ghanian students whose school had the good taste to make their uniforms purple!

When it comes to Pluto I’m biased. I grew up with Pluto being a planet, and dammit,
I refuse to believe otherwise.

Unfortunately, I also grew up biased against pursing a career in #STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). STEM is a boy’s game, I was told. You shouldn’t bother to play. I assumed girls today were being given a different message. I was wrong.

What bothers me most about these findings is that the women faculty members were just as prejudiced against their own kind as the men.

It’s time we girls throw off the silly notion that we aren’t as good at science as the guys, and encourage our girls to storm labs all over the country. How can we expect the boys to accept us if we don’t accept and encourage ourselves?

I want to honor New Horizon’s women by continuing to encourage girls in AnnyWorld to follow their dreams wherever they lead, including Pluto and beyond. (Madu’s thinking about becoming a NASA scientist or astronaut. She’s also open to designing their spacesuits too.)

How do you respond when your daughter, or niece, or female student etc. talks to you about math or science?

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